BELMOD: adapting EUROMOD for the use of administrative data in Belgium

BELMOD aim is twofold:
1. to modernize the FPS Social Security’s microsimulation tool and
2. to improve access to social protection in Belgium.

This new microsimulation tool will be used to design an evidence-based national reform plan aimed at furthering the automatization of social rights. We understand automatization in this context not only as automatically granting social benefits (the most advanced form of automatization) but it is also understood as automatically identifying potential beneficiaries.

BELMOD is a research project funded by DG Employ – EaSI of the European Commission, coordinated by the Belgian Federal Public Service Social Security. The University of Essex and the University of Antwerp act as co-applicants, the National Pension Office and the National Institute for Sickness and Disability Insurance contribute as associate organizations. Some tasks will be executed by subcontractors (Belgian Federal Planning Bureau and KU Leuven).

The FPS’ existing simulation tool MIMOSIS allows policy makers to assess whether planned reforms will yield satisfactory results.

MIMOSIS can be used to estimate the budgetary impact of the proposals and to identify who will be affected. To enhance cooperation and knowledge exchange between the main actors of static microsimulation in Belgium and Europe, MIMOSIS will be integrated in EUROMOD.

The BELMOD microsimulation model will thus combine the accuracy of MIMOSIS with the user-friendliness of EUROMOD. The current accuracy of MIMOSIS is mainly due to the level of detail contained in its input dataset. This input dataset is based on a large sample of administrative data, which not only assures representativeness of small, specific subgroups of the population but also representativeness on the regional level. In addition, the level of detail of information on income and benefits allows for accurate simulations of means tested benefits. The new dataset will run on the tax-benefit systems from 2015 to 2020.

Data sources: MIMOSIS dataset, which is a sample was from the Labour Market & Social Protection Datawarehouse (LM&SP DWH) of the Crossroads Bank for Social Security (CBSS). Additionally, it includes data from the FPS Finance’s IPCAL-database, as well as the STIPAD/CADNET-database.